Rants/Raves

It's somehow appropriate that a column called Forgotten Games should get forgotten for about a year, but as with many things we can't always get what we want... at least not when we want it. I'm happy to report that I've recently located my stash of old Role-Playing Games, and at the top of the stack was the second game on my list from oh, so long ago - Gamma World, published by "The Game Wizards," TSR.

Are two heads better than one? Maybe, maybe not, but certainly a double-bladed axe is better than a single bladed axe. Or is it? Is double your pleasure always double your fun? Apparently so, according to the new Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook.

Star Wars is revered by millions, and the buzz about the upcoming online Star Wars game is increasing steadily. But what if, contrary to what everyone thinks, the game sucks? Because we all need a good laugh now and again, here are the Top 10 possible reasons the forthcoming Star Wars Galaxies MMORPG will totally suck, in chronological order.

Everyone would like to think that they are special. I know this, because I am like everyone. Yes, this applies to games as well. Once upon a time we could think that we were special because we were the hold outs on something: the only person who spoke Esperanto, the only soul with a Gloria Swanson-milk carton fetish, the only one still playing a Boot Hill campaign.

There comes a point in every gamer's life when he thinks back on all the roleplaying groups he's been a part of since he first picked up a d20 and a character sheet. He recalls great campaigns, beloved characters, favorite stories, and fellow players who became his friends for life. But when he considers those players more closely, he wonders "why is it that so few women get involved in what I know is a great hobby?"

I hate terminology. I really do. Terms are as dangerous as guns, and much easier to get a hold of. Terms kill as well, but do so by thought obliteration, by limiting a possibility to a narrow one. All words are terms. Using a word to describe something can fail utterly because not every word is able to take in the true meaning of a situation. One of the worst places for this sort of thing is in the gaming world.

Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGS) are, for the most part, all boring wastes of time that have very little of importance to differentiate one from another. This is not to say that MMORPGs are not fun, because in their own way they can be. They certainly have the tendency to be addictive.

Anarchy-Online hit stores yesterday, and I had hoped to bring you a review of what was supposed to be the world's first and greatest MMORPG set in a science-fiction world. At the moment, the best thing I can say is that disgruntled gamers sick of blasting Daikatana will be pleased to know that there's a new outlet for their rage and frustration. But there's one key difference between Daikatana and Anarchy-Online; you can actually play Daikatana out of the box.

Daily Radar is just the latest of the gaming-oriented websites to bite the dust; game sites (and, in general content-oriented sites) have been suffering pretty badly for about a year now. What does this say about the future of gaming and role-playing websites? Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. And they all have you to blame.

Games come and games go, but there's something odd in the air right now, something I can't quite place. Is it the smell of quiet desperation as traditional pen-and-paper games fall by the wayside, stomped flat by their flashier computerized cousins? Is it the end of an era, or just the end of the beginning? Kenshiro Aette speaks his mind.